Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-06-22

| mutual affection, even when unexpressed,
has way Of making things 60 happily, and
can find something to laugh at anywhere.
Just then, who should come up but Mrs.
Neville, in great state Of excitement, and,
as usual, tanning herself with her hat.
"What do you think, Capt. Mel? the
prisoners have come in, and heard one Of
the Beers in charge say that be had a pass
signed by the Boer general for some English
people, and that he was coming over to see
about them presently. Who can it be?'
'It is u.s." said Jess, quickly. "We are
going home. l saw Hans Coetzee yesterday,
and begged him to try and get US pass, and
suppose he has,"
"My word! going to get outs Well, you
are lucky! Let me sit down and write a let
ter to my great uncle at the Cape. You must
post it when you can He is 81 and rather
soft, but dare say he will like to hear from
me,n and she bundled off into the house to
give her aged relative (who, by the way,
labored under the impression that she wls
still little girl of years Of age) as minute
an account Of the siege Of Pretoria as time
would allow.
"Well. John. you had better tell Moutl to
put the horses In. We shall have to start
presently" said jess.
aAy,n he said, pulling his beard thought
fully. II suppose that we SHALL" adding, by
way Of an afterthought: "Are you glad to
goa"
@No!r she said with sudden flash of pas
sion and stamp of the foot, and then turned
and entered the house again.
aMouti," said John to the Zulu, who was
lounging around in way characteristic OF
that Intelligent but unindustrious race, "in-
span the horses. We are going back to Mooi-
fontein."
aKoos" Chief, said the Zulu unconce-nedly,
and started on the errand as though it were
the most every day occurrence to drive on
home out of closely beleaguered town. That
is another beauty Of the Zulu race; you can
not astonish them. They, no doubt, consider
that that, to them, extraordinary mixture OF
wisdom and insanity, the white man, Is, as
the agnostic French critic said in despair OF
the prophet Zerubbabel, capable de tout"
John stood and watched the inspanning
absently. The fact was that he, too, was con-
scious Of sensation Of regret. He felt
ashamed of himself for it, but there 1t was;
he was sorry to leave the place. For the last
week or so he had been living in dream, and
GFGTS lulHS Uit1V oiSe&1h 'e-S D@~>AHS -
and indistinct as landscape in a fog. He
knew the things were there. but he did not
quite appreciate their relative size and posi-
ton. The only real thing was his dream; all
else was as vague as those far off people and
events that we lose in infancy and find again
in old age.
And now there would be an end Of dream
ing; the fog would lift, and he must face the
facts jess. with whom he had dreamed,
would 20 away to Europe and he would
marry Bessie, and all this Pretoria business
would glide away into the past like watch
in the night. Well, it must be so; it was
right and proper that it should be so, and he
for one was not going to finch from his duty;
but he would have been more than human
had he not felt the pang of awakening 1t
was all so very unfortunate.
BY this time Mouti had got the horses up,
and'asked if he was to inspan.
"Nol wait bit," said John. "Very likely
it is all rot" he added to himself.
Scarcely were the words out Of his mouth
when he caught sight Of two armed Beers of
peculiarly unpleasant type and rough ap.
pearance riding across the veldt toward
"The Palatial" gate, escorted by four car
AZ IuS EdUc CucJ oOOpPSQs oIio OAO
Of them dismounted and came up to where he
was standing by the stable door.
"Cape Niel!" he said interrogatively in
English. .'
"That is my name"
@Then here Is letter for you," and he
handed him folded paper.
John opened tit had no envelope-and
read as follows:
1SIR-The bearer of this has with him a
pass, which it is understood that you desire,
giving you and Miss jess Croft safe conduct
to Mooifontein, in the Wakkerstroom district
Of the republic. The only condition attached
to the pass, which is signed by one of the hon.
orable triumvirate, is that you must carry no
dispatches out of Pretoria. Upon your giving
your word of honor to the bearer that you
will not do this he will hand you the pass"
This letter, which was fairly written and
in good English had no signature
"Who wrote this?" asked John of the Boer.
"That is no affair of yours" was the curt
reply. "Will you pass your word about the
dispatches!"
"Ys."
"Good. Here is the pass" and he handed
over that document to John. 1t was in the
same handwriting as the letter, but signed by
the Boer general.
John examined it and then called to jess to
come and translate it. She was on her way
round the corner of the house as he did so,
havingheard the voice of the Boer.
ut means, Pass the bearers unbarmed,'"
she said, "and the signature is correct. have
seen the generals signature before"
"When must we staTt!" asked John.
"At once, or not at all"
u must drive round by the headquarter
camp to explain about my going. They will
think that have run away"
To this the Boer demurred, but finally
after going to the gate to consult his COM
panion, consented, and the two rode back to
the ileadquarter camp, saying that they
would wait for the cart there, whereupon the
horses were inspanned.
In five minutes everything was ready, and
the cart was standing in the roadway in
front of the little gate After he had looked
to all the straps and buckles and seen that
everything was properly packed, John went
to call Jess. He found her standing by the
doorsteps, looking out at her favorite view
Her hand was placed sideways against her
forehead, as though to shade her eyes from
the sun. But where she was standing there
was no sun, and John could not help guessing
why she was shading her eyes. She was cry
ing at leaving the place in that quiet, harrow
ing sort of way that some women have; that
is to say, few big tears were rolling down
her face John felt lump rise in his own
throat at the sight, and very naturally re-
lieved his feelings in rough language.
"What the deuce are you afterP he asked
care you going to keep the horses standing
all day!"
jess did not resent this. The probability is
that she guessed its reason. And besides, it
is melancholy fact that women rather like
being sworn at than otherwise, provided that
the swearer is the man they are attached to-
But he must only swear OH state occasions.
At this moment, too, Mrs. Neville came
| plunging out of the house, licking an envelope
| as she ran
"There," she said, II hope haven't kept
You waiting. haven't told the old gentle
man half the news; in fact, I've only taken
him down to the time when the communica.
tions were cut, and / dare say he has seen all
that i'll the papers. But he won't understand
anything about it, and if he does he will guess
the rest; besides, for all I know, he may be
dead and buried by now. shall have to owe
you for the stamp. I think it's threepence
I'll pay you when we meet again-that is, if
we ever do meet again. Pm beginning to
think that this siege will 60 OH for all eter-
nifty. There, good by, my dear! God bless
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